Issue 22, 2014

Synthesis and characterization of S-PCL-PDMAEMA for co-delivery of pDNA and DOX

Abstract

A star-shaped poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) copolymer (S-PCL-PDMAEMA) was synthesized and applied to co-deliver pDNA and doxorubicin (DOX) into cancer cells. A linear-shaped L-PCL-PDMAEMA was prepared for comparison. A star-shaped PCL homopolymer (S-PCL) was synthesized through a ring-opening reaction of ε-caprolactone with pentaerythritol, followed by brominating the end hydroxyl groups of S-PCL to yield S-PCL-Br. The S-PCL-PDMAEMA was obtained via atom transfer radical polymerization using DMAEMA as a monomer and S-PCL-Br as a macroinitiator. Similar numbers of repeating units of PCL and PDMAEMA were controlled for L-PCL-PDMAEMA and S-PCL-PDMAEMA. The star-shaped copolymer formed uniform nano-sized micelles in water with lower cytotoxicity than the linear one and PDMAEMA. The L-PCL-PDMAEMA and S-PCL-PDMAEMA effectively formed polyplexes with pDNA at a low N/P ratio. The DOX-loaded S-PCL-PDMAEMA micelles showed a better cell-killing effect than the DOX-loaded L-PCL-PDMAEMA in four cell lines. The co-delivery of DOX and pDNA was confirmed using a confocal laser scanning microscope. The S-PCL-PDMAEMA delivered the drugs into the nuclei of U87 cells for 3 h of incubation but the L-PCL-PDMAEMA accumulated most of them in the cytoplasm. This result demonstrated the cationic S-PCL-PDMAEMA micelles are a promising co-delivery system for therapeutic pDNA and hydrophobic anticancer drugs.

Graphical abstract: Synthesis and characterization of S-PCL-PDMAEMA for co-delivery of pDNA and DOX

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Nov 2013
Accepted
10 Feb 2014
First published
10 Feb 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 11089-11098

Author version available

Synthesis and characterization of S-PCL-PDMAEMA for co-delivery of pDNA and DOX

Y. Lo, G. Chen, T. Feng, M. Li and L. Wang, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 11089 DOI: 10.1039/C3RA46914J

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